Construction on Delayed JFK Terminal Takes Off

Work starts on a new JetBlue terminal. Also, the planned Moynihan Station complex in Manhattan lands an anchor tenant.

New Terminal Breaks Ground

Work began in December on a new $875 million terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, a project that will add 26 gates and preserve an architectural landmark.

JetBlue Airlines will occupy the new 635,000-sq.-ft. passenger terminal, designed by a team consisting of Gensler and DMJM Harris, both based in New York, as well as London-based Arup. The project was originally scheduled to start in 2004 but was pushed back while the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey finalized lease details with Queens-based JetBlue, according to the agency's spokesman.

The new building is on a 72-acre tract behind Terminal Five, a famous 1962 structure featuring sweeping curved concrete wings that was designed by architect Eero Saarinen and had served as the terminal for the former Trans World Airlines. The new project, managed by New York's Turner Construction, also entails building a 1,500-space parking garage, new roadways, and a bridge and tubes connecting to an AirTrain station and the existing Terminal Five. Despite the delay, completion is still expected "in about three years," according to the spokesman.

JetBlue, the airport's busiest carrier with close to 10 million annual passengers, will finance $80 million of the project. The Port Authority will finance the remaining $795 million as part of the agency's $9.4 billion JFK redevelopment program, which tallies both public and private funding sources. JetBlue will operate the facilities under a 30-year lease.

The Port Authority also plans to restore and adapt the Saarinen structure for a new use under an agreement formed with local preservation agencies. The authority expects to assign a developer for that project this year.

NJ Transit to Lease New Station

Development of the $818 million project that will transform part of the existing Farley Post Office building on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan into the Moynihan Station rail complex was on course in late fall, with scaffolding and sheathing enveloping the structure and an announcement that New Jersey Transit will be the facility's first rail tenant.

Moynihan Station Development Corp., a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corp. that is overseeing the project, negotiated a 99-year lease with the transit agency, which will pay $2.3 million annually and occupy 35,000 sq. ft. of the new facility between 31st and 33rd streets when it is completed in 2010. New Jersey Transit's new space has been designated for passenger, customer service, and support areas.

The Moynihan station development consists of 300,000 sq. ft. for the train station's interior and track areas, 850,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, and around 1 million sq. ft. of air rights for a residential tower across 8th Ave.

New Jersey Transit plans to integrate the new facility with its existing station and platform under Seventh Avenue in Pennsylvania Station. It will also eventually connect to the agency's biggest project in the pipeline - the Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel, a $6 billion project to add two new single-track tunnels alongside the Amtrak-owned tunnels under the Hudson River and a new multilevel station at 34th Street in Manhattan. That project is slated to break ground next year and finish in 2015.

Fort Ticonderoga Gets Renovation

Fort Ticonderoga in Ticonderoga, N.Y., underwent major infrastructure and communications work before the groundbreaking last fall for a project to reconstruct its Mars Education Center.

Designed by New York City's Tonetti Associates, the $20.8 million reconstruction entails recreating an 18th-century French-built façade on the 15,000-sq.-ft. structure, while combining it with 21st-Century museum amenities inside.

In order to have the Upstate New York center open year-round, the team completed a 2-mi.-long underground water line, added new electrical and communications services to serve the entire fort structure, and installed a new HVAC system, which entailed tapping underground wells for geothermal heating and cooling. The geothermal aspect was underwritten in part by a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

The center plans to attain certification from the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Bread Loaf Corp., based in Middlebury, Vt., is managing the construction effort, which is scheduled to top out this summer. Final occupancy is slated for September 2007.